Raquel's Abel (2 page)

“So, Grandmother, what’s his name so I’ll know what to call him?” I was still looking at the diagram of how they’d connect my intestine to my stomach.

“His name is Abel Rollins.”

“Nice to meet you, Abel Rollins,” I said to appease her so I could keep studying the brochure.

My grandmother leaned over and spoke in a whisper. “He appears to be quite taken with you.”

“That’s nice.” If I argued with her all the time, I’d go completely crazy. I put the brochure down on the wobbly glass-topped table and closed my eyes. Would I be brave enough to go through with the surgery? It was dangerous. The thought of getting an infection or other complications gave me goosebumps. And then there was the other issue—did I have enough money to pay for it? If I did without, I could swing it.

“I tell you dear. Whatever it is you were looking at, Mr. Abel Rollins doesn’t like it.”

“He doesn’t?” How could grandmother have such a vivid imagination? She had no idea what gastric bypass surgery was, anyway.

“You see? He took that piece of paper, wadded it up, and tossed it away.” My grandmother pointed toward the bushes.

“What?” I looked, but didn’t see anything. “I’m afraid I don’t see him, Grandmother.”

Maria Elena was squinting her eyes and pointing, pretending to see something.

“Do you see him, Maria Elena?” I asked wondering if she’d lost her mind too.

“I no seeing him, but the paper.”

“Of course she sees him. Your piece of paper, dear. You see he’s thrown it away.” My grandmother continued to point.

I looked at the table. My brochure was gone. “Where is it?” I pushed myself up from the chair. There was a piece of paper beside the bushes. Odd, I hadn’t noticed a breeze. I sidled across the yard, my heels being swallowed by the moist earth. After I got the surgery, would my feet sink like this?

I grabbed the piece of paper by the bushes. It was the brochure I’d just been looking at. It was all crinkled as if someone had balled it up intentionally. What was going on here?

“Maria Elena, did you do this?”

Her jaw dropped open. “No, Señorita, no, I no doing that.”

“I tell you. It was Abel Rollins,” Grandmother said with a smirk on her face.

Being around my grandmother was officially driving me bonkers. I decided to go in the house and get some work done on my next novel.

Later that afternoon my sister, Regina, came over.

“He’s left, huh?” I knew she and Carter were having problems. Like every other relationship, there were big problems after a year or two.

“He’s gone so I have the house to myself.” She sprawled out on one of the ancient lounge chairs next to the pool. Her string bikini made her legs look like they ended at her waist due to the last round of liposuction her husband graciously paid for. “I figure I can do better than Carter any way.” She stretched her arms over her head just to flaunt her figure at me.

“You know you’re thirty-three and you’ve been married three times.” I was neglecting to mention the two she’d lived with.

“You’re just jealous because you’re always a bridesmaid and never a bride.” Her dark brown hair was bobbed off so it made a perfect line from ear to ear. Her eyes were almost black, making her look sultry and sexy.

“I’m waiting for the right man,” I said defensively.

Regina only behaved this way toward me because of the bias my father had shown. They said when Regina was born, he would barely look at her. He’d walk right by her crib and come to play with me.

Maria Elena came pushing my grandmother down the hill toward the pool.

“Raquel, your suitor is back.”
Grandmother’s voice could be heard across the yard in spite of her frail size.

Regina looked at me then back at Grandmother. “Suitor?” She looked at me. “Raquel, are you keeping a secret?”

I rolled my eyes.

“I talked to him this morning,” Grandmother continued. “His name is Abel Rollins. He’s had the nerve to put on one of your father’s smoking jackets.”

“He’s just another one of Grandmother’s hallucinations,” I said to Regina.

“A hallucination doesn’t grab a piece of paper and hurl it half across the yard.” Grandmother jutted her chin out at me.

I peered over at Regina, who was already starting to tan. We certainly didn’t look like sisters. I had pale red hair, light green eyes, and skin that burned easily in the sun.

“What is this piece of paper?” she asked.

“Something I haven’t told you.” I turned toward Regina, the chair creaking under my weight. “I’m considering having gastric bypass surgery.”

Regina’s eyes popped open then I heard a splash.

I jumped up and sidled over to the edge of the water. One of the metal chairs was in the pool. I turned around and put my hands on my hips. “Maria Elena, you threw that chair in the pool.”

“No, no, not me, I no do that.” She began to shake so hard the seat she was in began to rattle.

Grandmother raised her hand as if conducting an orchestra. “Raquel, don’t take that tone with my sister. You know very well Abel Rollins did it.”

I glared at Maria Elena. I didn’t see her do it, but who else could have done it? “Tomorrow, when the gardener gets here, please have him fish it out of the pool.”

“Fish?” Her eyes had grown large at seeing me really mad. Once I had actually threatened to fire her, and she looked like I was sending her to a firing squad. I’d backed down since Grandmother would be miserable without Maria Elena.

“I mean have him get it out of the pool.”

I sat back down beside Regina. “Did you see how that chair got into the pool?”

“No. All of a sudden there was a splash.”

I felt guilty. Maria Elena frustrated me, but somehow I doubted she hurled the chair in the water. I looked over at her. She was staring down at her hands. “Maria Elena, I’m sorry. It must have been the wind.”

She made a little smile, but I could tell I’d hurt her feelings. As irresponsible as she seemed to me, she always had tons of patience with my grandmother.

“So,” Regina began. “How are you going to get the money to pay for this surgery?”

“I don’t know. I saved up for the initial procedure, but after I’ve lost the weight, I have to get another operation for the excess skin.” That’s the operation I was scared to death of. Everyone said it was horribly painful.

Regina nodded.

“I guess I need to produce more manuscripts.”

Regina had never worked a day in her life, since she ran from one rich husband to another. “You need to write more interesting books.”

“I think I do write interesting books.” She always put me on the defensive.

“But who’s interested in Queen Elizabeth I or Eleanor Roosevelt?”

“Lots of people,” I snapped. “They are women that changed the world.”

Maria Elena sat up. “I reading your book on Richard Burton, Raquel, and you no mention Elizabeth Taylor.”

“Because it wasn’t
that
Richard Burton. I wrote about Captain Sir Richard Burton who lived in the Middle East and translated the Kama Sutra.”

“He doing that when he married to Elizabeth Taylor?” Maria Elena asked.

“I give up.” I raised my hands in despair.

“She’s right,” Regina said. “I think you should write about important people like Tom Cruise or Matt Damon.” My sister hadn’t even finished high school. Why was I surprised she’d have this opinion?

“Or like Ben Affleck and why he dumping Jennifer Lopez,” Maria Elena interjected.

“I try to write about people who have contributed to the world, done great things.” I didn’t know how I had a sane thought in this house.

“Your daddy always called you the smart one,” Grandmother said, smiling at me with a proud expression on her face “Not surprising since we are royalty.”

“Daddy’s little favorite,” Regina spat out sarcastically. She never understood why our father preferred me over her—especially when it seemed the whole world preferred Regina. She was the one that had always had friends, boyfriends, admirers...

I was always alone in my room with my books.

“I think it’s time for us to go in,” I said as a hint for Maria Elena to take Grandmother up for her nap.